While he was in charge of RB Leipzig, coach Julian Nagelsmann tried and tried but could never beat Bayern Munich. His team played well, finished second in the Bundesliga, went into the Champions League knockout stage, but he could still not beat the Bavarians. He doesn’t have to worry about that anymore, because he is now Bayern coach and already has one win against his former club. In the first half of the season, Nagelsmann won 4-1 with his team in Leipzig, when Red Bull were in chaos with Jesse Marsch as the coach. In the meantime, the American was sacked and Domenico Tedesco was appointed, but the gap between the clubs in Bundesliga is healthy 18 points.16 – Players with the most touches in the opposition box in this season’s #Bundesliga:🥇Robert Lewandowski (157)🥈Christopher Nkunku (135)🥉André Silva (111)🥉Erling Haaland (111)🥉Karim Onisiwo (111)Danger. pic.twitter.com/VCJ6IQfqva— OptaFranz (@OptaFranz) February 1, 2022 And this will also be a duel of old friends, as both Nagelsmann and Tedesco spent 10 months working on their final coaching qualification, and Leipzig coach finished with the top marks in the class.”I was at the very front of the class when we did our coaching licence and he was at the very back. I didn’t want to be the teacher’s pet so I waited until five minutes before eight to go to the back of the class. I thought I would be one of the cool guys and go to the back, and then I went into the room and the only seat that was available was the front spot. I think there were people who watched the Lord of the Rings trilogy 44 times during this course. I couldn’t even type something into Google because my laptop would be shut down immediately by the lecturer… I was a young man at the time and I had to keep that seat at the front. So that was a big disadvantage for me and that’s why I got a 1.3 rating and Domenico got a better mark of 1.0″ recalls Nagelsmann.Bundesliga – January transfer window recap: Bayern + Borussia + Leipzig: 0 Ksh spentBut, as Tedesco admits, their acquaintance doesn’t mean they know all about each other.”It’s one thing to know the opposition coach, have a grasp of his ideas, and how he wants to play with and without the ball. It’s another thing to defend against it, or to exploit their system in attack. They are two very different things. And in principle it’s Bayern against Leipzig – not Nagelsmann against Tedesco” said Leipzig coach ahead of the game.🗣️ Domenico #Tedesco speaks to the media ahead of #FCBRBL:”Against Bayern, you have to get every aspect of your game right. We want to be on our very best against them. It’s not a ‘bonus game’ for us; we’re going into Saturday to be successful.” 🔴⚪ #WeAreLeipzig pic.twitter.com/4uWM8ke6Ly— RB Leipzig English (@RBLeipzig_EN) February 3, 2022 One thing is sure – Tedesco has tightened the back four in recent times – Bayern are the only club to have conceded fewer goals (19) this season than the Red Bulls’ 23, so it will be interesting to see if Lewandowski and Muller will break Leipzig’s defense. FC Bayern have lost just one of 11 Bundesliga games with the Leipzig and are undefeated in seven games in the top flight since that 2-1 loss in Leipzig in March 2018. But, Leipzig is currently the only Bundesliga club to win all four competitive games so far in 2022 (DFB cup included) with a goal record in the Bundesliga 8-1.BUNDESLIGA – Round 21FridayHertha – Bochum 1-1 (1-0)/Belfodil 23 – Polter 48/Saturday17.30: (2.50) Koln (3.40) Freiburg (3.00)17.30: (3.50) Bielefeld (3.50) M’ gladbach (2.20)17.30: (3.10) Augsburg (3.20) Union Berlin (2.55)17.30: (2.90) Stuttgart (3.30) Eintr.Frankfurt (2.60)17.30: (2.85) Mainz (3.40) Hoffenheim (2.60)20.30: (1.48) Bayern (4.60) RB Leipzig (7.50)Sunday17.30: (2.00) Dortmund (3.70) Leverkusen (3.90)19.30: (1.58) Wolfsburg (4.00) Greuther Furth (7.00)***odds are subject to change
